1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to surgical instruments. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to surgical instruments having cutting assemblies for cutting tissue.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many surgical procedures, tubular body tissue, for example, blood vessels, ducts, adhesions, fallopian tubes, are sealed to defunctionalize or close the tubular tissue. Traditionally, staples, clips or sutures have been used to close a body vessel. However, these traditional procedures often leave foreign body material inside a patient. In an effort to reduce foreign body material left within the patient and to more effectively seal the body vessel, energy techniques that seal by heat processes have been employed.
In addition to closing tissue, in many situations it is necessary to cut tissue. Since forceps utilizes mechanical action to constrict, grasp, dissect and/or clamp tissue, it is particularly useful to also provide a cutting assembly within a forceps. Current tissue cutting procedures utilize, for example, knife assemblies and electrical cutting assemblies.